Cardiff City

Neil Warnock: 'I enjoy making fans of my club happy'

By Giuseppe Labellarte, ReporterPublished: 06 May 2018 8:59 AM

Cardiff City boss Neil Warnock reveals that he seeks to make fans of his club happy and would leave a role swiftly were the supporters to get on his back.

Neil Warnock has stressed that he seeks to make fans of his club happy and would depart swiftly were the supporters to get on his back.

The 69-year-old is a somewhat polarising figure in English football, having engaged in numerous spats with rival coaches, players and fans during his long career in the game.

Warnock, currently on the verge of guiding Cardiff City to the Premier League, admits that nobody can be universally liked as a football manager, but he would not be prepared to stick around at a club if their own supporters disliked him.

"I'm like I am because of our fans," Warnock told The Guardian. "I don't know any [Cardiff] fans that don't like me.

"And I tell you now, you look at some of the managers in the Premier League and the Championship, the fans [at their clubs] don't like them. It's horrible, that. And I don't need that, not at my age. If ever fans chanted my name 'out', they wouldn't have to wait long.

"Everyone wants to be loved and liked – but you can't be as a manager. As a manager, you know you're going to take the brickbats from other clubs and their fans. But I do enjoy making my own fans happy. When I came here, the biggest compliment was when I heard fans say: 'Well, I've never liked him. But I've always wanted him to manage us.'"

Cardiff take on Reading on Sunday knowing that victory, or a better result than Fulham can claim at Birmingham City, will see the Bluebirds secure second place in the table.